Joy has been a deep exploration recently. I've given workshops about joy; I've given talks about it. A couple weeks ago, I also wrote about joy as a leading indicator to participate in as we pursue success. In my work with high-performers, we will inevitably come to a point in our coaching where we explore the true nature of joy. We question the possibility of how it might be the core engine that drives us to create, innovate and persist.

Whenever I have opened up this conversation, the consensus seems to be that joy is complex. People will submit that joy is a feeling of happiness inside and it's also a consistent state of being. They'll also say that it's a sense of fulfillment or wholeness. It's a sense of having wisdom. I've gotten responses that joy is both ephemeral and enduring. Two conflicting ideas but joy seems to envelop them both.

If we look at what modern science says about joy, it reflects our natural tendencies to define it. It's a complex idea that encompasses a whole host of various emotions, ways of being and experiences. Nancy Etcoff, a professor in positive psychology at Harvard Medical School, says that joy is synonymous to happiness in that it "...is a big umbrella term that can mean different things to different people. We can view happiness in at least three ways—as a hedonic state, as a cognitive state, or as a general life philosophy."

If we look at what pop culture says, we'll see evidence of joy being a complex idea through a host of different narratives. The Pixar movie Inside Out for example, has a character named Joy. For much of the movie, Joy's character is all about the positive feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, and laughter. The marble she represents in the movie was initially gold. Towards the end of the movie though, her marble changes to include all the other colors. Joy evolves and the movie ends (spoiler alert) with joy enveloping all the other experiences of her peers including grief, sadness, disgust and anger.

For me, joy has evolved into more of an inner game, rather than a thing I can experience and only discover from the external. I've lost loved ones the past two years. I've experienced highs and lows in my marriage and parenthood. These same highs and lows have been there at work too. I've come to deeply know that joy is within. We are creators of joy. As humans, we can cultivate and generate joy from within.

Again, the interesting thing is modern science and ancient wisdom seem to agree with this.

According to Shawn Achor, a popular figure in the positive psychology world, or as he calls it, the science of happiness; if we look at everything of a person's external world, science can only predict 10% of that person's long-term happiness. In reality, ninety (90%!) of a person's long-term happiness can be predicted by how their brain processes the external world.

In other words, joy is an inside game.

Let's look at ancient wisdom. How did the earliest humans we have on record tell their stories about joy? If we study narratives that were born from the consciousness of humans that existed thousands of years ago, what are they telling us about their experiences of joy, fulfillment, wholeness, wisdom and belonging?

It turns out they seem to have been wrestling with these ideas similar to how we are now.

For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest text we have on record written about 4,000 years ago; we can witness the hero of the story, Gilgamesh, go through his personal quest to fulfillment. It is the original hero’s journey. Over and over again, we will find Gilgamesh searching for joy and truth through the achievement of external circumstances. He believes that his quest will be fulfilled once he achieves his outcome, whether that's conquering an enemy or some damsel he needs to pursue (and quite honestly have sex with). Then, if he does achieve said outcome or once he is confronted with his enemy, the recurring theme is he does not seem to find exactly what he is looking for. Instead, he initially feels lost. He feels incomplete. And in that moment, he is invited to go deeper still.

This recurring theme happens over and over again in these Gilgamesh poems. Not only that, we'll find these recurring themes in Homer's The Iliad, which was written about a thousand years later. These same themes also exist in the Hebrew books that was written another hundred years or so after The Iliad.

Various authors, the earliest human consciousness we have on record, all telling the same essential stories about the fundamental questions we are asking ourselves now. And they are also pointing us to go within. Go within and that's where you will find what you are looking for.

Ok, so now what?

What if we buy into this idea that joy can be found from within?

What if we are ready to explore that?

Well, at the very least, if we are curious, we ought to take a look right?

And what does it look like to go on a journey within?

The good news is that modern science has given us clues on what the early path can look like and ancient wisdom has told stories about the depth of that path.

If we want to start our walk on this path, we have to commit to certain behaviors that lead to a greater sense of joy. Modern science tells us that if we have a gratitude practice (Emmons & McCullough 2003), a journaling practice (Slatcher & Pennebaker 2006), an exercise regimen (Babyak et. al 2000), a daily meditation practice (Dweck 2007) or participate in random acts of kindness (Lyubomirsky 2005); we will begin to see changes in our neurological pathways in just twenty one (21) days.

But that's just the beginning of the path.

We have to make a choice everyday to stay committed.

The path gets deeper so we must go deeper with it.

Just like the ancient text says, we must be willing to make a sacrifice.

The sacrifice will mean some sort of death.

It will likely mean the deconstruction and reconstruction of our ego.

We begin to see deeper into what it means to be human.

How would our approach to work become different if we started on this path to exploring joy?How would our relationships transform? How would literally everything completely change?

We can look at what the ancient text tell us. It tells us that the path involves taking that first step. It involves making sacrifices and leaving behind the feeling of comfort for the unknown. And the biggest paradoxical mystery of it all, is that we end up coming back home. Back to the place where we started, only to discover that home feels simultaneously similar and different. We find out that what we thought we were missing, we actually had it to begin with the entire time.

My friends, may you be courageous to take your first step. You know like, exercise, meditate, journal...

May you trust that, just like what the ancient text says, support will find you along the way.May you keep going.And may you discover that the joy that you thought was out there, was inside you the entire time.

Fiercely loving you,

Jomar

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